So for anyone that saw earlier today, I got into a bit of a spat with G3m4sSt4ff in the comments of their work. We apologized, chatted a bit through DMs, and all is well now. I especially did consider to take things down a notch with my criticism in the comments, as I have admittedly been kinda blunt about things lately. Somebody took it upon themselves though, without me knowing yesterday, to leave in my records how I've been a bad character as of late:
"Always complaining about quality, or tags, or something else, I know quality is important but jeez, just shut up and enjoy it for once. You don't have to comment on everything saying that something is wrong"
hypnohub.net/user_record

I'm not really here to call out the guy or do the whole "Woe is me" song and dance; I am admittedly kinda peeved, just cause I very much do want to improve myself as far as attitude + behavior go. And in the case I do improve over time, I still would much prefer to not have that crap sticking around on my profile. I figure other people would feel the same way about that.

So I really wanna ask the mods (and other people here in general): What's the point of records that any user can access + view? If it's essentially our reports system, why can other people see it right away? Shouldn't it be anonymous at first till a mod looks into it and finds that to be the case, therefore allowing their record to be visible...?

Like I have used it before in two separate cases as far as pointing out legitimately shifty and poor behavior, but when someone's being a jerk (in this case that being me as of recent), that's not for the mods to have to deal with or keep account of. All in all, I just wish the guy could have DMed me to say I really should lighten up, cause I am very much trying to do that after talking to G3n4sSt4ff today...

Lol, it's like the stuff moderators can see, but for everybody!

Fire away with the spam engines.

Critique is fine, but a thread dedicated to critics might be something some people might want. If I remember correctly, there IS one for newbie artists, but it's mostly dead?

Critique my work as hard as you can. Like I'm a punching bag or something. It would seriously help me improve. I'm tagged uh-stuff.

Onto the topic of the user record... wow, I didn't even know this existed. Like holy moly, that's... weird and kinda cool? I think? Seems like the "no anonymity" bit of it makes it really simple to weed out the bad fruits, both for people who legitimately deserve reports and for those that just abuse reports over minor stuff. I get what you're saying though, person getting reported might want some privacy about it. Also, as with any community based reporting thing, it's all gonna come down to personal opinion in the end. Try not to let it get to ya, I guess? Sort of a shitty answer, huh.

DM me then about anything specific. If u need suggestions on stuff to focus on I'll see what I can offer up.

Really? Aww, you're a saint!

I think critiquer is just salty. Keep doing what you do, *someone* needs to be there to complain.

Well, didn't know that was a thing.

But yeah, online crit is difficult. I usually find it's best to not bother unless someone specifically asks for it. Most people can't take it. [Well, most people can't give it, either.]

I saw that records thing but never really figured out what it was about.

To be honest, I'm shocked MY record is still clean.

Note: You can leave POSITIVE records too!

I've left a few positive records, I think. Which is ironic considering my username.

Oh wow turns out i have a negative record from someone complaining about my haigure posts lol. Kinda weird not notifying the person being recorded because if they don't know what records are they could be getting a bunch of complaints without knowing about them. A notification system for that could be useful as a way for users to see records being made about them. Like if they see that they got a negative report they could be more aware from it and try to improve themselves to avoid the complaint happening again or if they get a positive report it could be a nice thing for users to see they are being appreciated and such. Also it would be good for fake accusations as if the user was notified straight away then they can explain and sort things out rather than being oblivious to what's being said behind their backs and causing problems for them.

Huh. This is an interesting feature I wasn't aware of.

Honestly, I'd like answers to these questions myself. That's just how the software was designed.

As it stands, we don't actually use the user reports for anything. It's not even a moderation tool, but more a "karma system w/ comments". They mean nothing, are used hardly ever by almost no one at all, and are never referred to. I didn't even know they existed until the site was live for some time, because they're so obscure.

And just to be clear: this is not a way to report users. Moderators and admins get no notice when a user gets a report. It quite literally acts as a karma system atm - one I'd prefer didn't exist at all.

With the question being answered, I'm going to lock this thread. I know it wasn't intentional, but I can easily see it acting as drama bait, so it kind of skirts around one of the forum rules.